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counter-extremism | social cohesion | counter-terrorismFri, 24 Jul 2015 14:19:14 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3Virtuous Extremismhttp://standforpeace.org.uk/virtuous-extremism/
http://standforpeace.org.uk/virtuous-extremism/#commentsSat, 18 Jul 2015 09:58:21 +0000http://standforpeace.org.uk/?p=3366A lot of counter-extremist work focuses on Islamist charities in the West, which appear to be spend a great deal of money and time in the alleviation of suffering abroad and the pursuit of interfaith dialogue at home.

Are we being fair to Islamist organisations? After all, if orphans in Bangladesh or the Gaza Strip no longer go hungry, or if a Muslim Brotherhood mosque throws open its doors to a delegation of Jews, Christians and Hindus, should that not be celebrated, rather than scrutinised with suspicion?

Politicians certainly seem keen to praise the efforts of Islamic groups. Charities such as Islamic Relief receive tens of millions of pounds from the British government, the European Union and the United Nations. Cabinet ministers, members of the royal family and political parties have all expressed support for the charity’s work.

Islamic Relief is an important component, however, of the global Muslim Brotherhood movement. Its directors have included Ahmed Al-Rawi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader who, in 2004, supportedjihad against British and American troops in Iraq; and Essam El-Haddad, who is accused by an Egyptian court of divulging state secrets to Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, and using Islamic Relief to finance global terrorism.

In Gaza, Islamic Relief funds Hamas front organisations, including the Islamic University of Gaza and the Al-Falah Benevolent Society. Islamic Relief has also received money from Yemeni terror charities, such as the Charitable Society for Social Welfare, which was established by the US-designated terrorist and “Bin Laden loyalist,” Abdul Majeed Al-Zindani.

Despite these connections to extremism and terrorism, Islamic Relief appears to help people survive. Over the past few years, it has provided emergency medicine to millions of Syrian refugees, and provided shelter and food to hundreds of thousands of displaced peoples across South Asia. Even in the U.S., Islamic Relief has delivered boxes of food to families who are “struggling.”

Politicians and journalists appear to think that these humanitarian efforts negate the effect of any extremist connections. For Islamist charities, then, charitable endeavour serves a greater purpose. By advertising their charitable goodness, Islamist networks can curry favour from Western governments and legitimise themselves as the virtuous representatives of Western Islam.

For the Muslim Brotherhood, this approach has worked extremely well. Aside from the millions of pounds of taxpayer revenue and the support of politicians, Islamic Relief has a seat at some important tables. It exerts influence over a number of government ministries, including the Foreign Office, which, in 2009, hosted a dinner for Islamic Relief, which was attended by “over 200 business leaders, prominent ambassadors, heads of major international charities.”

In a recent lecture, the Norwegian academic Thomas Hegghammer examined “the non-military activities” of jihadists. Examining “jihadi culture,” Hegghammer argued, will “shed new light on why people join and stay in extremist groups.”

Hegghammer reasons that the “litmus test” for whether something counts as “jihadi culture…is how functionally essential it is to the military effort.”

Jihadist groups employ these cultural activities, Hegghammer notes, “deliberately for recruitment purposes.” He cites a letter written to Bin Laden, in which a “jihadist strategist” suggests that nasheed [Islamic songs] and poems should be regarded as an “advertising product that…would cause Muslim feelings to be moved.”

Likewise, to what extent are the seemingly non-extremist activities of Islamist groups essential to extremist agendas?

As with jihadists, “non-violent” extremists certainly make use of poems and nasheeds. The Al Imdaad Foundation is a British branch of a South African Islamist charity, which works closely with Islamic Relief through an umbrella group called the Muslim Charities Forum. One of Al Imdaad’s trustees is Qari Ziyaad Patel, who has written and sung nasheeds in praise of the Taliban.

Similarly, officials of Islamist lobby groups have circulated music videos in support of Bin Laden; and Islamist students at London colleges have recorded prayers and songs advocating killing Jews and supporting terrorists.

But extremist culture amounts to more than pro-terror propaganda. Extremist culture primarily depends on activities that are, as Hegghammer indicates, “essential” to Islamist efforts.

For British Islamist groups, these “essential” activities are the means by which extremist organisations assert themselves as political leaders and moral voices of Muslim communities, and attain influence over politicians and receive positive coverage from journalists.

Thus, Islamic Relief’s international charitable work serves a greater purpose. Similarly, groups such as the Islamic Education and Research Academy, a British Salafist organisation whose officials have talked of a “Jewish stench,” were recently happy to organise an event with the Anne Frank Trust, on the subject of “tackling anti-Semitism.”

As another example, senior British politicians have expressed their support for the Al Muntada Trust, another British Salafist group that runs several schools and provides humanitarian aid to thousands of African refugees, despite its work with ISIS clerics and widespread allegations that the charity funds Boko Haram, the Nigerian affiliate of Al Qaeda.

It seems that regardless of their extremist ties, Islamist organisations can always find ways to exert influence through charity or interfaith work. The Interfaith Network, for example, is a taxpayer-funded umbrella group for religious bodies all across Britain. Following the protests against Salman Rushdie, the Interfaith Network “promoted a core group of activists,” who backed the Iranian regime’s fatwa for his murder, to establish national organizations on behalf of Britain’s Muslims.

Among conservative Islamic sects, such as the Deobandi movement, senior clerics advocate cultural work that affords Muslims with influence over schools, communities and government. Ibrahim Mogra, a Deobandi cleric who is currently the Assistant Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, told a youth conference in 1998 that Deobandis must “engage in mainstream politics and activities” in order to “resist” Western culture, and refute the West’s “so-called progress … we can point out to them what they call backwardness is good for society.”

Islamist charities’ work abroad also serves another purpose. Islamist charities work in the Gaza Strip, for instance, contributes to a terrorist-run welfare system of da’wah [outreach, proselytising]. By providing welfare services, the terrorist group Hamas works, the Stanford academic Eva Milgrom notes, “to reshape the political consciousness of educated youth.”

The counter-terrorism expert Matthew Levitt writes that the social infrastructure produced by da’wah activities, funded by British Islamic charities, “are crucial to Hamas’ terrorist activity: they provide cover for raising, laundering, and transferring funds, facilitate the group’s propaganda and recruitment efforts, provide employment to its operatives, and serve as a logistical support network for its terrorist operations.”[1]

One of the great challenges for counter-extremism and counter-terrorism analysts is persuading policy-makers that charity can be nefarious, and that even interfaith dialogue can be harmful. To the uninformed, it is a counter-intuitive claim.

But by ignoring the seemingly non-extremist activities of extremist networks, we risk legitimising and funding such groups as humanitarian representatives of Western Muslims. We should not be dazzled by virtuous claims.

continue reading]]>http://standforpeace.org.uk/virtuous-extremism/feed/0Jeremy Corbyn Furious over Hamas Questionshttp://standforpeace.org.uk/jeremy-corbyn-furious-over-hamas-questions/
http://standforpeace.org.uk/jeremy-corbyn-furious-over-hamas-questions/#commentsMon, 13 Jul 2015 19:56:34 +0000http://standforpeace.org.uk/?p=3362Jeremy Corbyn MP, who is standing for leadership of the Labour Party, has come under fire for his referral to Hamas and Hezbollah as his “friends”.

Interviewed on Channel 4 News, Corbyn claimed he only uses the word “friends” in a “collective way at a discussion.”

Furious at the questioning, Corbyn shouted, “Can I finish? … Hamas and Hezbollah are part of the peace process. … Thanks for the tabloid journalism.”

Later in the interview, Corbyn spoke on behalf of Iranian interests on the question of Syria, arguing that, “It was quite a big mistake in not reconvening the Geneva conference involving Iran … I think there has to be, ultimately, a political solution. I think we also need to look at the role that Saudi Arabia and others are playing in the arms they are putting in to the area.”

The “friends” reference to designated groups came from 2009, when Corbyn announced at an “anti-war” rally:

“It will be my pleasure and my honour to host an event in Parliament where our friends from Hezbollah will be speaking. I also invited friends from Hamas to come and speak as well. … That is the absolutely the right function of using parliamentary facilities to invite people from our other parts of the world. … The idea that an organization that is dedicated to the good of the Palestinian people…should be labelled as a terrorist organization by the British government is really a big, big historical mistake.”

Corbyn has a long history of working with unpleasant groups.

In 2011, Corbyn invited the Palestinian Islamist preacher Raed Saleh to speak in parliament. In 2005, an Israeli court had jailed Saleh for funding Hamas organizations.

Saleh has claimed that 4000 Jews skipped work at the World Trade Centre on the day of the 9/11 attacks; those who killed the “Martyr, Sheikh Osama Bin Laden” had “sold their consciences to Satan”; and that the children of Europe had their “blood mixed in with the dough of the [Jewish] holy bread.”

Raed Saleh’s work funding Hamas was evidently not a problem for Jeremy Corbyn, who is a staunch advocate of the British organization Interpal, a pro-Hamas charity that is a designated terrorist organization under United States law.

Interpal’s leaders regularly attend Hamas rallies and ceremonies in the Gaza strip. At one such event, Interpal trustee Essam Yusuf participated in a song that praised Hamas’s terrorist activities and its “martyrs.”

Other Interpal officials promote extremist ideas. Interpal staff member Ibrahim Dar has expressed support for the late Al Qaeda leader Anwar Al-Awlaki, has called for killing homosexuals, and claims that ISIS is a “western setup undercover organisation.” Interpal trustee Ibrahim Hewitt has spoken of a “so-called Holocaust,” advocates killing apostates, and has written: “The Jews cannot be entrusted with the sanctity and security of this Holy Land.”

Despite Interpal’s violent ideas, Corbyn has sponsored and signed a number of parliamentary motions in support of it, and regularly speaks at Interpal events.

In his constituency of Islington, Corbyn hosts meetings at the Finsbury Park Mosque, an institution with which he works closely. One of the mosque’s trustees, in fact, is Muhammad Sawalha, a fugitive Hamas commander. According to BBC reports, Sawalha is “said to have masterminded much of Hamas’s political and military strategy” from London.

In 2012, Corbyn agreed to speak at a Ramadan celebration with Abdur Raheem Green, a Salafist preacher who has spoken of a “Yehudi [Jewish] … stench.” Green urges Muslims to “push them [Jews] to the side.” In addition, Green encourages men to hit their wives to “bring them to goodness,” and has called for the killing of homosexuals and adulterers.

In 2014, Corbyn spoke at an event organized by representatives of the Iranian regime to commemorate the violent Iranian revolution of 1979. Corbyn’s fellow speakers included Hassan al-Sadr, who represents the UK office of Iraqi terrorist Moqtada al-Sadr; and Abdolhossein Moezi, the personal representative of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Also in 2014, Corbyn hosted an event in parliament that featured the “neo-Nazi” speaker James Thring, who has appeared in a revisionist pro-Nazi documentary and has said that, “the Jewish lobby has so much power.”

You can read a similar article on Jeremy Corbyn written by the Director of Stand for Peace here at the Gatestone Institute

continue reading]]>http://standforpeace.org.uk/jeremy-corbyn-furious-over-hamas-questions/feed/0Jeremy Corbyn to speak alongside Hamas advocateshttp://standforpeace.org.uk/jeremy-corbyn-to-speak-alongside-hamas-advocates/
http://standforpeace.org.uk/jeremy-corbyn-to-speak-alongside-hamas-advocates/#commentsFri, 03 Jul 2015 21:15:56 +0000http://standforpeace.org.uk/?p=3369On August 22, Jeremy Corbyn MP, a candidate for leadership of the Labour Party, is due to speak at an event organised by Middle East Monitor, a leading Muslim Brotherhood publication.

Corbyn, along with a number of South American ambassadors, politicians and officials, will speak on the subject: “Palestine and Latin America: Building Solidarity for National Rights”. Along with Andrew Murray, from the trade union group UNITE, and Philipa Harvey, President of the National Union of Teachers, Corbyn will share the stage with two prominent Hamas voices, Azzam Tamimi and Mohsen Saleh, as well as the notorious anti-Jewish cartoonist, Carlos Latuff.

Azzam Tamimi is reported to be Hamas’ “special envoy” to the UK. Tamimi was formerly the director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought, a leading Muslim Brotherhood organisation.

Tamimi claims that he has the “great honour to be close to Hamas” and that “all the leaders of Hamas are my friends”. He has also spoken fondly of “the late Imam Khomeini” and the “great jihad” of Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In 2004, Tamimi told the BBC that he would become a suicide bomber if he “had the opportunity”, describing self-sacrifice for Palestine as “a noble cause”.

Mohsen Saleh runs the Al-Zayounta Centre in Lebanon, a thinktank that is notionally independent. Saleh is a closely involved, however, with the terror group Hamas. In 2014, Saleh edited and published a book containing writings of senior Hamas leaders, which sought to “present Hamas’ perspective towards political and social reform.”

In 2012, Hamas leader Khalid Meshal thanked Mohsen Saleh directly for organising a conference for Islamist operatives. During his speech, hosted at Saleh’s Al-Zaytouna Centre, Meshal reaffirmed his commitment to “Jihad and armed resistance” as the “correct and authentic means for the liberation of Palestine and the restoration of all rights”.

Carlos Latuff, who is also speaking, is a prominent cartoonist who, in 2006, entered Iran’s Holocaust Cartoon competition, winning second prize. According to the Community Security Trust, Latuff’s cartoons draw on a number of anti-Semitic canards.

Other speakers include Wadah Khanfar, a former Al Jazeera journalist. The Global Muslim Brotherhood Watch reports he also worked for the International Islamic Federation of Student Organisations, which was listed in a South African intelligence report presented to Thabo Mbeki as a key Hamas institution.

MEMO, the hosting organisaton, is a prominent Muslim Brotherhood outlet. In 2011, it brought the Hamas activist Raed Saleh to the United Kingdom. MEMO’s editor, Daud Abdullah, was also the former deputy-secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, with which the British government severed links after the very same Abdullah became a signatory to the Istanbul Declaration, a document which called for attacks on British troops and Jewish communities.

MEMO’s senior editor is Ibrahim Hewitt, a trustee of the Hamas-linked charity Interpal, which is banned as a terrorist organisation in the United States. Hewitt has referred to the “so-called Holocaust”, [Blood on the Holy Land: Report on the Visit by a Delegation of British Muslims to Occupied Palestine]. Further, in a pamphlet written by Hewitt, he advocates the killing of apostates and adulterers, and demands that homosexuals suffer “severe punishments” for their “great sin”. [Ibrahim Hewitt, What does Islam Say?, The Muslim Educational Trust, April 2004]

In 2014, MEMO attempted to run an event at Kings College London with the notorious Egyptian Holocaust denier Abdelwahab Elmessiri. The event was cancelled by KCL after Stand for Peacebrought Elmessiri’s views to the public’s attention.

Jeremy Corbyn MP, who is leading the polls in the election for Labour Party leader, is no stranger to pro-terror and anti-Jewish activists.

In his constituency of Islington, Corbyn hosts meetings at the Finsbury Park Mosque, an institution with which he works closely. One of the mosque’s trustees, in fact, is Muhammad Sawalha, a fugitive Hamas commander. According to BBC reports, Sawalha is “said to have masterminded much of Hamas’s political and military strategy” from London.

Corbyn has, in fact, received thousands of pounds of gifts from various Hamas groups.

“It will be my pleasure and my honour to host an event in Parliament where our friends from Hezbollah will be speaking. I also invited friends from Hamas to come and speak as well. … That is the absolutely the right function of using parliamentary facilities to invite people from our other parts of the world. … The idea that an organization that is dedicated to the good of the Palestinian people…should be labelled as a terrorist organization by the British government is really a big, big historical mistake.”

In 2014, Corbyn spoke at an event organized by representatives of the Iranian regime, to commemorate the Iranian revolution of 1979. Corbyn’s fellow speakers included Hassan al-Sadr, who represents the UK office of Iraqi terrorist Moqtada al-Sadr; and Abdolhossein Moezi, the personal representative of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

continue reading]]>http://standforpeace.org.uk/jeremy-corbyn-to-speak-alongside-hamas-advocates/feed/0Counter-Extremism Guide to the 2015 General Electionshttp://standforpeace.org.uk/counter-extremism-guide-to-the-2015-general-elections/
http://standforpeace.org.uk/counter-extremism-guide-to-the-2015-general-elections/#commentsFri, 01 May 2015 14:11:29 +0000http://standforpeace.org.uk/?p=3373On May 7, the British electorate will go to the polls in the 2015 general election. What approach do the prospective members of the next government take towards the question of Islamic extremism?

Conservatives

Since 2010, the Conservative Party has repeatedly stressed its overhaul of the previous government’s counter-extremism programs. In 2011, the government published its review of the PREVENT counter-extremism program, in which Home Secretary Theresa May wrote:

“The Prevent programme we inherited from the last Government was flawed. It confused the delivery of Government policy to promote integration with Government policy to prevent terrorism. It failed to confront the extremist ideology at the heart of the threat we face; and in trying to reach those at risk of radicalisation, funding sometimes even reached the very extremist organisations that Prevent should have been confronting.”

Also in 2011, Prime Minister David Cameron gave a much-discussed speech in Munich, in which he acknowledged the flaws of multiculturalism policy and previous counter-extremism efforts:

“Under the doctrine of state multiculturalism, we have encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and apart from the mainstream. …We’ve even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run completely counter to our values.”

…

“As evidence emerges about the backgrounds of those convicted of terrorist offences, it is clear that many of them were initially influenced by what some have called ‘non-violent extremists’, and they then took those radical beliefs to the next level by embracing violence. … Some organisations that seek to present themselves as a gateway to the Muslim community are showered with public money despite doing little to combat extremism. As others have observed, this is like turning to a right-wing fascist party to fight a violent white supremacist movement.”

On the face of it, the Conservative-led government has responded forcefully to extremist influence in the public sphere.

After British newspapers revealed the extent of Islamist influence within state-funded schools – a scandal that has since become known as the Trojan Horse plot – the government immediately established an inquiry and toughened up the monitoring procedures of Ofsted, the schools watchdog. Dozens of schools are being investigated, and up to 100 teachers accused of Islamist links could be banned from working in schools.

In addition, the government has drafted legislation designed to give the Charity Commission greater powers to shut down charities linked to terrorism. Further anticipated legislation will target sharia courts, fight “extremist entryism” in schools and local government, and tackle “hate preachers” in universities.

Some critics argue, however, that much of the government’s promises is largely bluster. The government’s “review” of the Muslim Brotherhood, for example, has still not published its report – a full year after David Cameron announced an inquiry.

After the Prime Minister and Home Secretary’s promises of reform, some extremist organizations have continued to receive taxpayers’ money from the Conservative-led government. Between 2011 and 2014, for instance, the government granted £1.5 million of taxpayers’ money to Islamic Relief, the flagship charity of the Muslim Brotherhood network in Britain.

In Gaza, Islamic Relief funds Hamas-run institutions such as the Al-Falah Benevolent Society. Islamic Relief fundraising events have featured preachers such as Haitham Al-Haddad, who describes Jews as “pigs and apes;” and Abdurraheem Green, who advocates beating women in order to “bring them to goodness.”

Similarly, the Federation of Student Islamic Societies has continued to enjoy the support of senior civil servants, despite Home Secretary Theresa May’s condemnation of the group for its failure to “fully challenge terrorist and extremist ideology.”

Mosques that promote anti-Jewish, anti-Western and pro-terror preachers have also continued to receive public funds. In 2014, the East London Mosque, one of the most prolific centers in Europe for extremist preachers, was granted £154,358 of public money, drawn from local government, school and healthcare funds.

Also in 2014, the Finsbury Park Mosque, run by fugitive Hamas commander Muhammad Sawalha, received £20,000 from local government sources.

Even after David Cameron acknowledged that state multiculturalism had “encouraged …segregated communities,” the government nevertheless continued to support the Islamist grip over British Muslims. Although the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), for example, was officially cut off from government in 2009 – after one of its officials became a signatory to the pro-terror and anti-Jewish Istanbul Declaration – the Conservative-led government continued to work with the MCB through other channels.

The Ministry of Defence still uses the MCB to accredit Muslim chaplains serving in Britain’s armed forces. The MCB also still provides chaplains for public hospitals and prisons, and the Department for Communities and Local Government continues to fund interfaith groups of which the MCB is a leading member. Yet, according to a 2007 survey, 94% of British Muslims believe the MCB does not represent their views.

There is also a strong concern that Conservative ministers are willing to implement measures that threaten free speech. Home Secretary Theresa May has called for ban on extremists being interviewed on television, speaking at public meetings or using the Internet.

May has also encouraged further use of “Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures,” which restrict suspects’ movements without the need for prosecution. Those under these controls are not allowed to challenge the restrictions or even know why they are subject to such measures.

The Conservative’s manifesto promises a Conservative government would:

Allow employers to “check whether an individual is an extremist and bar them from working with children;” and

“Ensure colleges and universities do not give a platform to extremist speakers.”

Labour

The decade after the September 11 attacks was financially and politically rewarding for British Islamism. The then-Labour government, under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, poured enormous amounts of taxpayers’ money into the wallets of radical Islamic groups.

The Labour government did so under the assumption that “nonviolent” extremists would act as a check on the influence of violent extremists.

The government’s counter-extremism program, PREVENT, funded Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat-e-Islami groups such as the MCB and the Cordoba Foundation. At the time, the MCB periodically boycotted Holocaust Memorial Day, expressed support for Hamas terrorists and blamed Islamic terrorism on British foreign policy and media-driven Islamophobia.

Prominent Labour ministers spoke at Muslim Brotherhood events such as the Global Peace and Unity conference, alongside preachers such as Zakir Naik, who advocates suicide bombings and claims Jews are the enemies of Muslims.

Not everyone in the Labour government, however, was so enamoured of Muslim Brotherhood groups. Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly and her successor, Hazel Blears, eventually realized that the MCB’s Islam was not so different from that of the jihadists.

In 2006, Kelly decided to cut funding for the MCB and any other organization that does not “stand up for our shared values.” In 2009, Hazel Blears severed relations with the MCB completely after its deputy secretary general, Daud Abdullah, signed a Muslim Brotherhood statement “supporting violence against troops and Jewish communities.”

Fast-forward to 2015, and Ed Miliband’s Labour Party appears to have forgotten – or perhaps is deliberately ignoring – the lessons learnt from the PREVENT fiasco.

“The Prevent programme was set up under the last Labour Government to stop young people becoming radicalised. But this [Conservative] Government has cut the funding and narrowed its focus. Much of the work to engage Muslim communities has been lost.

We will overhaul the programme to involve communities in countering extremist propaganda, stopping young people being groomed, and also building resilient institutions for social integration.”

Labour’s manifesto offers nothing more on the issue of extremism. It seems that a future Labour government is likely to welcome Islamist groups such as the MCB back into the fold.

Recent Labour Party events, in fact, have featured MCB stalwarts such as Iqbal Sacranie as well as Muhammad Ali Harrath, a convicted terrorist, former leader of the Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood and founder of the extremist Global Peace and Unity conferences.

After 2010, the Labour shadow cabinet included MPs such as John Denham, who, in the last days of the Labour government, sought to restore ties with the MCB.

The Muslim News has reported that, in a recent interview, Labour leader Ed Miliband promised to criminalize “Islamophobia”. Miliband reportedly said, “We are going to make it an aggravated crime. We are going to make sure it is marked on people’s records with the police to make sure they root out Islamophobia as a hate crime.”

If Labour wins the upcoming elections, the next government will include a number of ministers with strong Islamist ties:

Andy Slaughter – the shadow Justice Minister. Slaughter has frequently spoken at events run by Islamist groups aligned with the terrorist group Hamas, such as the Palestinian Forum of Britain and the Arab Organisation for Human Rights. In 2010, Slaughter met with senior representatives of Hamas.Slaughter has also expressed praise for the Al-Muntada Trust, a Salafist charity that has given platforms to financiers of the Islamic State and is reported to be funding the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram. In 2013, Slaugher hosted an event for the Al-Muntada Trust in the House of Commons.

Sadiq Khan – the shadow Justice Secretary. In 2013, Khan, along with Andy Slaughter, was listed as a speaker at the Muslim Brotherhood’s Global Peace and Unity conference. Other speakers included Yasir Qadhi, who claims the Holocaust is a hoax; Jamal Badawi, a Muslim Brotherhood activist who describes suicide bombers as “freedom fighters;” and Yusuf Estes, who adviseshusbands to beat their wives.Khan is a prominent supporter and “friend” of Babar Ahmad, a British Islamist convicted on terrorism charges by a U.S. court in 2014.

Shabana Mahmood – a shadow Treasury Minister. Mahmood is a vocal supporter of MEND, an Islamist lobby group described by the Daily Telegraph as a “front group of Islamic extremists.”

In 2014, Mahmood spoke at a MEND event alongside Abdul Qudues Zafar, a MEND official who has circulated music videos in support of Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, and has posted videos claiming that the “New World Order” is run by a “Zionist Antichrist.”

Mahmood advocates a boycott of Israeli goods and encourages anti-Israel activists to take “direct action” against British firms that do business in Israel.

Liberal Democrats

In 2011, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the government would reform its approach to extremism. Immediately afterwards, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, leader of the Conservatives’ coalition partner, the Liberal Democrats, gave a very different speech in the British city of Luton.

In contrast to David Cameron, Clegg argued that “engagement” was important, even with non-violent extremists:

“To take one example, the Global Peace and Unity conference attracts around fifty thousand British Muslims each year and is an important opportunity to engage in argument – and so Andrew Stunell, the Government’s Communities Minister did this year. Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, also spoke at the event.

Now there may well have been a small minority of organisations and individuals at that event with deeply unpalatable, illiberal views.

But you don’t win a fight by leaving the ring. You get in and win.”

At the conference Clegg cited, the Daily Telegraphreported that, “Items glorifying terrorism were on open sale… Also available were ‘shahada headbands’ as worn by many Palestinian suicide bombers… The headbands contain the personal testimony of the suicide bombers.”

Furthermore, Global Peace and Unity conference does not merely include a “small minority” of “illiberal” organizations; it was established and run, as mentioned before, by extremist Muslim Brotherhood operatives. And as the Gatestone Institute has previously noted, the clear majority of speakers at the Global Peace and Unity conferences have been pro-terror, anti-gay and anti-Jewish Islamist preachers.

The marked divide between Cameron and Clegg has constrained counter-extremism policy over the last five years. Most recently, the Liberal Democrats blocked Conservative proposals to ban extremist speakers who “preach death” or incite terrorism, on the grounds that such measures erode free speech.

The Liberal Democrat manifesto offers little on the subject of the extremism. It simply states:

“We will work with religious and community leaders, civil society groups and social media sites to counter the narratives put forward by extremists, and create the space for the expression of contrary viewpoints and religious interpretations.”

UK Independence Party (UKIP)

The UKIP manifesto mentions extremism and terrorism just once – in conjunction with an isolationist foreign policy:

“UKIP acknowledges there are real, existential threats around the world. The rise of Islamic extremism is at the forefront of this and, indeed, is possibly the most important battle of our generation. But the fight with and against this ideology is not best fought on a battlefield 3,000 miles away, but at home, where we have significant problems of radicalisation and incitement to terrorism.”

Frequently described as a “right-wing populist party,” UKIP leader Nigel Farage has previously claimed that British mosques have been infiltrated by Islamist hate preachers, and that state multiculturalism policy had created a “fifth column” of Islamic extremists.

UKIP’s foreign policy, however, appears tolerant of the Russian-Iranian axis. The UKIP manifesto claims that, “European Union expansionism is putting us increasingly, unnecessarily, at loggerheads with Russia.” Farage has argued that the West should not oppose Russian aggression in the Ukraine, because President Putin is “on our side” in the fight against Islamic extremism.

By “Islamic extremism,” Farage refers to the threat posed by the Islamic State and other Sunni Islamist terror. Of the Shi’ite Islamist regime in Tehran, however, Farage told a Jewish audience in London that he would not support an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities: “I do not support acts of aggression, even from countries that feel their existence is threatened. I’d go for a non-intervention policy.”

In addition, Farage has expressed opposition to sanctions against the Islamist Iranian regime:

“The approach we have taken with sanctions has been a mistake. By putting sanctions on Iran we have helped foster the view that all the West is against it and Israel’s mates have forced Iranians into poverty. A more intelligent approach would have been to love-bomb Iran and give everyone free access to the internet. We can be cleverer about how we deal with issues like Iran.”

Green Party

If UKIP is regarded as the “right wing populist” party that siphons votes from the Conservatives, then the Green Party is considered the left-wing equivalent. The Labour Party has, in fact, identified 22 parliamentary seats in which the Greens pose a threat to the Labour majority.

Although the Greens mostly focus, unsurprisingly, on environmental issues, critics also charge the party with an overly friendly attitude towards Islamist causes and anti-Semitism.

In a recent article for the Forward, Liam Hoare writes of Green Party members circulating articles by “white supremacists,” issuing calls to “smash the Zionists,” and deeming Green Party members with Jewish surnames to be “Nazi infiltrators” and “agents of Israel.”

These reports only skim the surface of the problem. Pippa Bartolotti, leader of the Welsh Greens, has been photographed while posing with the swastika flag of the Syrian neo-Nazi group, the SSNP. The Atlantic has noted that the SSNP pays frequent homage to 1930s European Nazism – members greet their leaders with a “Hitlerian salute.”

Bartolotti has objected to the appointment of Jewish ambassadors: “I questioned the wisdom of having a Jewish Zionist ambassador in Israel and stated that their loyalty was a matter for the FCO to investigate. …From the university of life I have learned that Jews often have a conflict of interest in matters relating to Palestine.”

In 2010, Bartolotti travelled to Gaza to meet with senior Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud al-Zahar. Al-Zahar has called for the killing of Jewish children across the world.

Green Party leader Natalie Bennett has expressed support for a complete economic and cultural boycott against Israel — including artists, musicians and academics. In January, Bennett argued that membership of the Islamic State or Al Qaeda should not be a criminal offence.

Deputy Green Party leader Shahrar Ali was recently filmed speaking of Jews: “Just because you observe the niceties of Holocaust Memorial Day it does not mean you have learned the lessons of history.” Ali added: “If you tolerate this, your children will be next.”

At the last general election, the Green Party and George Galloway’s Islamist Respect Party backed each other’s candidates in some constituencies. In addition, senior Green Party members have signed up to Muslim Brotherhood campaigns and have regularly shared platforms with prominent British Islamist operatives.

As with UKIP, the Green Party’s manifesto only mentions extremism once. The Party claims that Islamist extremism is a consequence of “ill-advised military interventions,” and proposes, without further explanation, “effective programmes to prevent radicalisation.”Scottish National Party (SNP)

The SNP advocates an independent Scotland. After losing a recent referendum on the issue, the SNP has now it turned its attention towards Westminster, where, as a possible coalition partner, it can further Scottish interests and possibly force a second referendum.

Polls suggest the SNP will win a great number of seats in Scotland. A Labour-led coalition is unlikely without SNP support.

Muslim Brotherhood groups have also long enjoyed a friendly relationship with the SNP. In 2005, Hamas’s “special envoy” to the UK, Azzam Tamimi, stated, “We have been impressed by the warm and welcoming attitude of the SNP.”

Scotland’s former First Minister and SNP leader Alex Salmond has shared platforms with prominent Islamist leaders, including Iqbal Sacranie, a leading British Islamist who said of Salman Rushdie that, “Death, perhaps, is a bit too easy for him.”

In 2010, the SNP handed £400,000 to the Scottish Islamic Foundation. Counter-extremism experts have stated that the Scottish Islamic Foundation “promotes religious separatism and a range of Muslim Brotherhood-style policies.”

At the time, the Scottish Islamic Foundation was managed by SNP candidate Osama Saeed, who has expressed support for the late Al Qaeda leader, Anwar Al-Awlaki. In addition, the Scottish Islamic Foundation arranged in 2008 for Hamas commander Mohammed Sawalha and other prominent Muslim Brotherhood leaders to meet with the SNP culture minister, Linda Fabiani.

In 2013, the SNP Scottish government granted £398,000 to Islamic Relief Worldwide, a leading Muslim Brotherhood charity. Former directors of Islamic Relief Worldwide include Essam El-Haddad, a Muslim Brotherhood leader who is presently on trial in Egypt.

The SNP manifesto offers little on the question of Islamist extremism. It simply states: “We will support targeted, and properly overseen, measures to identify suspected extremists and, if necessary, examine their online activity and communications.”

Given the company senior SNP officials have kept, it seems unlikely that these “extremists” would include the SNP’s erstwhile Muslim Brotherhood allies.

You might be surprised to know, but the Mohammed that I knew was extremely kind. Extremely gentle. Extremely soft-spoken. [He] was the most humble young person that I knew. We’re gonna release all the emails . . . and what you’ll see when you read those emails is somebody who, despite going through great difficulties in his personal life, he belittled that difficulty.

These were the now-notorious words Asim Qureshi, research director for the Islamist pressure group CAGE, used to describe Mohammed Emwazi, a British Islamic State fighter wanted for his part in the beheading of at least 5 hostages. They were offered at a catastrophic press conference called by CAGE in the wake of the Washington Post’s unmasking of Emwazi as the IS executioner hitherto known as ‘Jihadi John’. CAGE, the Post revealed, had been in contact with Emwazi before he left for Syria.

Listening to Qureshi’s lachrymose little eulogy, I was reminded of a Guardian profile of Mohammad Sidique Khan, published just one week after the 7/7 terror atrocity, which had claimed the lives of 52 people and maimed a further 700. It was headlined Mentor to the Young and Vulnerable, and it began like this:

Born in Leeds, suicide bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan spent his working life with young, vulnerable children. The 30-year-old, father to a 14-month-old daughter, Maryam, was a mentor in primary schools for children with learning difficulties. He is known to have taught hundreds of children [. . .] One child who was taught by him at Hillside said: “He seemed a really kind man, he taught the really bad kids and everyone seemed to like him. He was there about three years and then he went on holiday and never came back. We just knew him as Mr Khan.”

The narrative being advanced in both instances is of a harmless individual, naturally inclined to selflessness and compassion for the disadvantaged, transformed into a pitiless foot-soldier for the Islamist slaughterhouse by the actions and policies of the West. continue reading

]]>http://standforpeace.org.uk/the-ballad-of-jihadi-john/feed/1Baroness Warsi shares stage with Hitler-apologist Yasir Qadhi and anti-Jewish preacher Abu Eesahttp://standforpeace.org.uk/baroness-warsi-shares-stage-with-hitler-apologist-yasir-qadhi-and-anti-jewish-preacher-abu-eesa/
http://standforpeace.org.uk/baroness-warsi-shares-stage-with-hitler-apologist-yasir-qadhi-and-anti-jewish-preacher-abu-eesa/#commentsSat, 07 Mar 2015 02:03:44 +0000http://standforpeace.org.uk/?p=3334Former government minister Baroness Warsi is due to speak on April 3, alongside two radical preachers accused of extreme anti-semitism, at an event organised by the Islamist lobby group, MEND (formerly known as iEngage).

Warsi will be speaking as part of a day of events organised by MEND. The main event, named ‘Islam in Britain: Shaping our Future’, is due to feature:

Yasir Qadhi – a Holocaust denier who has claimed that “Hitler never intended to mass-destroy the Jews … ‘The Hoax of the Holocaust’, I advise you to read this book … a very good book. All of this [the Holocaust] is false propaganda … The Jews, the way they portray him [Hitler], also is not correct.” He then went on to ask, “Why are Jews studying Islam? There is a reason, not [because] they want to help us, [but because] they want to destroy us.” Qadhi has denounced Shia Islam as “the most lying sect of Islam,” and has said that “the Shias are allowed to lie and it is their religion to lie.” In 2008, Qadhi claimed to have recanted his extremist views. Around the same time, however, he expressed support for the Holocaust denier David Irving.

Abu Eesa Niamatullah – an instructor at the Al Maghrib Institute, who has said of Jews (whom he refers to as the “children of Israel”) that, “They find it so easy and natural to do what they do….Look at them today, look at the way they massacre. They blow up babies like as if it’s a computer game. They have no humanity, no morality, no ethics.” The Al Maghrib Institute, at which Abu Eesa teaches, is based in Texas but branches in the UK. In 2008, the ‘underwear’ bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attended seminars run in both London and Houston by Al Maghrib. Muhammad Al Shareef, the founder of the Al Maghrib Institute, has written a paper entitled, ‘Why the Jews Were Cursed’ – in which he claims that Jews control the media and murder prophets. He goes on to advise that Muslims should not “take Jews as our close allies.” Shareef also calls on Christians to “join the [Muslim] ranks and start to stand up and speak against things like this [homosexuality]…praise to God that you are homophobic.”

Zahir Mahmood – an Islamist preacher and supporter of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, the charter of which calls for genocide against the Jewish people. Mahmood claims that, “Hamas are not terrorists. They’re freedom fighters.”

Former government minister and former chair of the Conservative Party, Baroness Warsi, is due to speak alongside Hiter-apologist Yasir Qadhi and the anti-Semitic Abu Eesa Niamatullah at a second event held in the same venue later that evening.

MEND is an Islamist organisation that defends hate preachers and works to paint attempts to tackle radical Islamism as government-sanctioned Islamophobia. MEND was launched in 2008 under the name ‘iEngage’ by Mohammed Ali Harrath, an anti-Jewishveteran of the Tunisian Islamic Front terror group. MEND has promoted the writings of Laura Stuart, an openly anti-Semitic blogger who cites the Quran as proof that “the Jews are always arguing and plotting.” MEND has also partnered with the Muslim World League, which, according to the Anti-Defamation League, “has a long history of providing financial support to terrorist groups or having organisational links to them, including to Hamas, Abu Sayyaf group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Jemaat al Islamiyya, and Al Qaeda.”

continue reading]]>http://standforpeace.org.uk/baroness-warsi-shares-stage-with-hitler-apologist-yasir-qadhi-and-anti-jewish-preacher-abu-eesa/feed/0Why the Trojan Horse Plot was no surprisehttp://standforpeace.org.uk/why-the-trojan-horse-plot-was-no-surprise/
http://standforpeace.org.uk/why-the-trojan-horse-plot-was-no-surprise/#commentsThu, 05 Mar 2015 02:13:02 +0000http://standforpeace.org.uk/?p=3340The Daily Telegraphreports that the British education watchdog, Ofsted, has placed yet another British school “in special measures…with its head and governors likely to be removed.”

Small Heath School, which has a majority of Muslim pupils, is one of a number of Birmingham schools censured by Ofsted after investigations found a “narrowing of the curriculum.”

The journalist Andrew Gilligan suggests that concerns over Small Heath School have sparked fears of a “resurgence of the ‘Trojan Horse’ plot,” a concerted attempt by Islamist groups to infiltrate and Islamize British schools. The plot was first uncovered in 2013. A government report into the accusations, published in 2014, concluded that there had been a “co-ordinated, deliberate and sustained action to introduce an intolerant and aggressive Islamist ethos into some schools in the city.”

Shanaz Khan, the head teacher of Small Heath school, was previously the deputy-head teacher in Cardiff of Cathays High School, attended by two young British jihadists before they headed off to Syria to fight with ISIS.

At the Cardiff school, Islamic preachers taught children that music and contact between boys and girls were “not permitted in Islam.”

The changes at Small Heath School were “heavily backed” by the same Islamists involved with the Trojan Horse conspiracy, who had encouraged the Small Heath staff to pursue an “Islamising agenda,” by “[driving] out non-Muslim head teachers and imposed hard-line Islamic practices at a number of state schools in Birmingham.”

Would anyone have predicted, before the Trojan Horse plot was revealed in 2013, that a conspiracy to impose hard-line Islamic beliefs could possibly exist within the British education system?

Well, yes. The influence of extremist Islam within some British schools was hardly a secret. As far back as 1996, The Independent reported that British schools with large numbers of Muslim pupils were already providing for hard-line Islamic practises. The article reveals, in fact, that at the very same Small Heath school:

“Muslim governors are increasingly making demands. For example, Islamic law forbids drawing the human form… Some parents also object to the use of musical instruments in music lessons, fearing their connection with pop music and Western youth culture, which they see as riddled with sex and drugs. There have even been requests for separate play areas and separate classes for boys and girls.”

It turns out, in fact, that the topic of Islamic extremism in British schools has been know about and discussed for decades. In 1993, a teacher at Park View School in Birmingham told the local authorities that the school’s board of governors was “taken over by a Muslim sect.” In 2013, Park View School was named as one of the schools that fell victim to the Trojan Horse plot.

As early as 2002, a spokesperson for a community group of South Asian women in London stated: “We believe that single faith schools will mean more discrimination and a greater stranglehold of the most conservative, anti-women and communal individuals over our children’s education and our communities as a whole.” continue reading

]]>http://standforpeace.org.uk/why-the-trojan-horse-plot-was-no-surprise/feed/0Who approved Haitham Al-Haddad to speak at the University of Westminster?http://standforpeace.org.uk/who-approved-haitham-al-haddad-to-speak-at-the-university-of-westminster/
http://standforpeace.org.uk/who-approved-haitham-al-haddad-to-speak-at-the-university-of-westminster/#commentsFri, 20 Feb 2015 16:39:50 +0000http://standforpeace.org.uk/?p=3318On February 26, the Islamist preacher Haitham Al-Haddad is speaking at the University of Westminster, at the invitation of the student Islamic Society.

Haitham al-Haddad was formerly on the iERA’s board of advisors. He describes Jews as “apes and pigs” and “enemies of God”, quotes the famous anti-semitic foregery, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and speaks of a “conflict” between Muslim and Jews. Recently, Haddad has claimed that terrorist atrocities, such as the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the rise of Islamic State are conspiracies organised by Western powers.

In addition, Haddad believes that cases of domestic abuse should not be investigated; that peaceful co-existence between people of different religions “is wrong”; that female genital mutilation is “sunnah” [religiously correct]; and that suicide bombing “is permissible”. Haddad has also argued that the Japanese tsunami was divine retribution for Japan’s “lack of submission to Allah”, and has urged Muslims to “fight everyone until they establish the law of Allah”. Any system of law other than Sharia, he argues, “is invalid”.

LGBT students in London are protesting Haddad’s lecture. In a petition posted online, they have noted Haddad’s hatred for homosexuality, which he describes as a “scourge” and a “criminal act”. Haddad has also applauded the Liberian government’s decision in 2012 to criminalise homosexuality.

Following the well-documented problem of extremist speakers on university campuses, the University of Westminster claims to follow a stringent process of approval for “external speakers”.

Who, then, approved Haitham Al-Haddad, known for his notorious anti-semitism and hatred for homosexuals and non-Muslims, to speak before students at the University?

According to the Student Union, speakers are vetted by the “Interfaith Advisor” Yusuf Kaplan (a.k.a. Nicholas Kaplan).

Kaplan, before working at the University of Westminster, was previously a “Dawah Project Coordinator” at the Al-Muntada Trust, one of Britain’s most extreme Salafist charities, which itself frequently promotes anti-gay and anti-Jewish preachers.

According to the New Statesman, the Al Muntada Trust is “a Saudi-funded ‘charity’ … [that] sees its mission as propagating a Wahhabist version of Islam.” Al Muntada has hosted speakers such as Ismail Menk, who has said of homosexuals: “With all due respect to the animals, they are worse than those animals, may Allah protect us. Remember, we are saying here due respect to the animals, because animals, it is an insult to them to even suggest this to them”; as well asMurtaza Khan, who advocates the death penalty for homosexuality.

As well as having a long history of promoting and providing a platform for some of the most virulent Islamist hate preachers, the Al Muntada Trust stands accused of direct links to the Nigerian terrorist organisation Boko Haram, which recently made headlines after kidnapping 276 schoolgirls and murdering up to 300 people.

Yusuf Kaplan, as well as working as the Interfaith Advisor for the University of Westminster, also appears to serve as a Chaplain for students across London’s universities.

In 2014, Kaplan signed a letter on behalf of the Westminster Islamic Society reminding its members not to physically attack other students during debates.

The University has defended its approval of Haitham Al-Haddad as a guest speaker, stating: “The University is committed to maintaining freedom of speech and a diversity of views as set out in the Education Act 1986. As a diverse community of local and international students of many faiths, respect and tolerance is our foremost concern and we will be monitoring the event carefully and any student concerns.”

Stand for Peace calls on the University to examine Yusuf Kaplan’s connections to extremist groups and for Yusuf Kaplan to clarify his own views.

continue reading]]>http://standforpeace.org.uk/who-approved-haitham-al-haddad-to-speak-at-the-university-of-westminster/feed/0EU-designated Iranian official to address hardline UK grouphttp://standforpeace.org.uk/eu-designated-iranian-official-to-address-hardline-uk-group/
http://standforpeace.org.uk/eu-designated-iranian-official-to-address-hardline-uk-group/#commentsFri, 13 Feb 2015 02:52:26 +0000http://standforpeace.org.uk/?p=3309Kanoon Towhid, a hardline British Shi’ite group aligned with the Iranian regime, is due to host an event on February 14 celebrating 36 years since the Islamist government violently established control of Iran.

The event’s “keynote speaker” is Dr Kamran Daneshjoo, a former science minister of Iran who is a designated individual on the EU sanctions list, due to his involvement with the Iranian nuclear programme.

Kamran Daneshjoo: Minister of Science, Research and Technology since the 2009 election. Iran failed to provide the IAEA with clarification of his role in relation to missile warhead development studies. This is part of Iran’s wider non-cooperation with the IAEA investigation of the “Alleged Studies” suggesting a military aspect to Iran’s nuclear programme, which includes denial of access to relevant individuals associated documents. Daneshjoo also plays a role in “Passive Defence” activities on behalf of President Ahmadenijad, in addition to his ministerial role. The Passive Defence Organisation is already EU designated.

It is assumed that Daneshjoo will be addressing the event through a remote video-link. On top of his inclusion on an EU sanctions list, Daneshjoo was reportedly banned from the United Kingdom while a student in London after participating in a violent rally against the publication of Salman Rushdie’s novel, The Satanic Verses.

In 2012, Daneshjoo banned women from 77 different fields of study in Iranian universities, claiming that segregation was necessary to protect morality.

The British group Kanoon Towhid has previously hosted, by video-link, General Mohsen Rezai, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who is on Interpol’s wanted list for his involvement in the murderous bombing of the Jewish AMIA community centre in Buenos Aires. In 2013, Kanoon Towhid commemorated the Iranian revolution with a similar roster of regime-aligned figures.

continue reading]]>http://standforpeace.org.uk/eu-designated-iranian-official-to-address-hardline-uk-group/feed/0Will the Church of England Defrock Reverend Stephen Sizer?http://standforpeace.org.uk/will-the-church-of-england-defrock-reverend-stephen-sizer/
http://standforpeace.org.uk/will-the-church-of-england-defrock-reverend-stephen-sizer/#commentsThu, 05 Feb 2015 22:29:04 +0000http://standforpeace.org.uk/?p=3305Reverend Stephen Sizer, a Church of England vicar, has issued an apology after promoting an article on social media that claimed Israel was behind the 9/11 attacks, about which Sizer commented: “Is this anti-semitic? If so no doubt I’ll be asked to remove it. It raises so many questions.” Sizer published the post on Holocaust Memorial Day, sparking outrage from British Jewish groups.

On the face of it, this single distasteful action by a lowly vicar is not itself that newsworthy. But Stephen Sizer has a long history of promoting extreme anti-Jewish material and collaborating with foreign regimes and terror groups. The Church of England’s consistent failure to censure Sizer is certainly cause for alarm.

The blog Harry’s Place notes that Sizer currently presents a television discussion program on Al Etejah TV, an Iraqi television station with registered offices in London. The Arab Digestreports that Al Etejah is run by the Hezbollah Brigades, a pro-Iranian Shi’ite terror group in Iraq that is affiliated with the Lebanese Hezbollah. The Hezbollah Bridgades, according to the U.S. State Department, has carried out a number of murderous bombings and grenade attacks.

Sizer has also toured South Lebanon with Hezbollah; spoken at a regime-backed conference in Tehran alongside prominent Holocaust deniers; and, in 2014, he presented a tourism video for Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad, despite the Syrian regime’s acts of mass-murder against its own people. continue reading